This is the Yakima River right behind our apartment. We walk here everyday.
The view from out apartment.
The Cascade Mountains, taken from the car.
Monday, May 29, 2006
Some Photo's
This is the Yakima River right behind our apartment. We walk here everyday.
The view from out apartment.
The Cascade Mountains, taken from the car.
Another Week
(Michele and Nate on the ferry to Bremerton)
I’m sitting in Bremerton WA (A suburb of Seattle) at 5:15 AM. We came for Memorial Day weekend to see our good friends Jason and Jo. We left the dogs out in the living room with their dog Chief, but they just sat at our bedroom door whining and scratching at the door, so I finally got up. Now, the dogs are all asleep on the couch, but I’m wide awake.
Anyway, it’s been an interesting week. I started and finished a job this week. I took the road work job and started on Monday. I worked 10 hours on Monday and 13 on Tuesday. I spent about 9 hours blowing dirt out of cracks in the road. Suffice it to say (Did I use that phrase right?), this job wasn’t for me. I let them know on Thursday that it would be my last day. They were very gracious and said they understood. It was a hard call for me because I’m of the persuasion that any job is better than no job and I’m definitely not above any type of work. I just knew there was no way I’d make a career out of this and with the hours I’d never have time to look for another job, so that was that.
So, Yesterday (Friday), we drove out to Seattle. This is a beautiful drive from our house. You go from the dry high desert through the lush Cascade Mountains with its snow-capped peaks and then into the city. It’s good to be in a big city, I’ve felt like where we’re at is kind of small, but being here has made me appreciate it (By the way, it rains a lot here). Anyway, while we were waiting for the ferry to cross over to Bremerton I called a company that I’d applied with a few days before. They said I was hired and to come in on Tuesday to fill out paperwork. Isn’t God amazing? This is a job with a construction company doing welding and fabrication work. I don’t know the terms of the job yet, but at this point I don’t really care, it’s a job doing something I like!
As far as Michele goes, I’ve tried to get her to write, but she’s a little shy (I’m still working on it). Besides that she’s doing well, a little sick this week. Nate’s doing good also; he got four new molars all at once so he’s been a little bit cranky. Oh, we went to church last week at Calvary. It’s a pretty big church compared to what we’re used to, but the pastor is a phenomenal Bible teacher. It was really cool because one of the key chapters that led us to move here was Genesis 12, he picked up in Genesis 13, and so it felt like the next chapter in our lives. That’s it for now. Sorry these have been so long, I want to write shorter more often, but our internet still isn’t hooked up so I’m still “borrowing” a signal.
Peace,
Harold
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Read This
Andrew turned me on to this site. This article was awesome:
http://www.theschoolofchrist.org/articles/enough.html
http://www.theschoolofchrist.org/articles/enough.html
It's Been a Week
It's been a whole week since we arrived here. We finally got all of our things delivered on Wednesday and have been busy unpacking. A lot of our stuff had to go into the garage because it either doesn't fit or there was no use unpacking it since we'll probably move again in a few months.
I got offered a job on Monday, doing road marking and other road work stuff. It's a pretty good job, pays well, has good benefits,room for advancement, my boss is a believer,etc. It seems the Lord really provided this job and quick. But, I've been a little bummed with it. I mean havn't started yet (Monday), I have just always welded and assumed I'd get a welding job (I love welding). I've applied with a lot of different companies, but the only offers I've gotten are in Portland (200 miles) and Moses Lake (80 miles). So, here is where the doubt creeps in. I get great offers from these places and it makes question if we're in the right place, should we move, etc. But, what I have to remember is that the Lord never called us here to weld. So, I guess I'm a road worker for now, but it's still a little hard for me to swallow (That's how pride is).
Anyway, everything else has been adjustment. It's a smaller town (about 160,000), we don't really know anyone (though the people we meet are really nice), and as of now we don't have a real routine yet. I think this week will be good. We'll go to church tomorrow and I start work on Monday. This should really normalize things. Again, thanks for your prayers. I'll post some pictures soon and I'll really try to get Michele to write.
Peace
Harold
I got offered a job on Monday, doing road marking and other road work stuff. It's a pretty good job, pays well, has good benefits,room for advancement, my boss is a believer,etc. It seems the Lord really provided this job and quick. But, I've been a little bummed with it. I mean havn't started yet (Monday), I have just always welded and assumed I'd get a welding job (I love welding). I've applied with a lot of different companies, but the only offers I've gotten are in Portland (200 miles) and Moses Lake (80 miles). So, here is where the doubt creeps in. I get great offers from these places and it makes question if we're in the right place, should we move, etc. But, what I have to remember is that the Lord never called us here to weld. So, I guess I'm a road worker for now, but it's still a little hard for me to swallow (That's how pride is).
Anyway, everything else has been adjustment. It's a smaller town (about 160,000), we don't really know anyone (though the people we meet are really nice), and as of now we don't have a real routine yet. I think this week will be good. We'll go to church tomorrow and I start work on Monday. This should really normalize things. Again, thanks for your prayers. I'll post some pictures soon and I'll really try to get Michele to write.
Peace
Harold
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Home
Alright, I have a lot of catching up to do since the last time. But first, Michele is doing just fine. The reason there are no pictures of her is because she’s a girl and not one picture I’ve taken of her is suitable to be posted on the internet (I’m sure that this is all my fault). Anyway, I will have her write soon so she can give you her take on what’s been going on.
So, last time I wrote, we were held over in Nebraska. Our car was finished Thursday around 11PM and we got back on the road by noon. We did however get to make our trip to Cabella’s that morning. But, because of our delay, we were off schedule and ended up driving until midnight to catch up. We went from Nebraska thru Wyoming (another wide state), Utah, and then we stayed the night in Twin Falls Idaho. At about 10:30PM as we were driving through Idaho, we had a quarter tank of gas. We passed a gas station, but we thought we’d wait until we drove a little further. It turns out that the next gas station was 100 miles away. When our gas light came on, we had no idea how much further we had to go. We ended up driving 40 more miles and coasting into the next gas station. Thank you Lord.
The next day we drove from Idaho, through Oregon, and into Washington. It was so surreal driving up to our new home that we’d never been to. I think reality began to finally hit me. I’ve had so many people say that were taking a big “step of faith”, but I never really thought it was a big deal, until yesterday. I guess if I did, I probably wouldn’t have come. It was just so weird coming to a place that looks entirely different (desert w/ rolling hills and not many trees), and realize that we don’t know one person here. We then got to our apartment, which was another bit of change, from house with big yard, but our apartment is very nice. So, to be perfectly honest, I felt a little sick, you know that nervous, anxious, sick in your stomach feeling. You start questioning, was this right?
Encouragement came quickly! First, we took the dogs for a walk (we have to walk them now). Only about 100 yards from out apartment our trails that lead down to the Yakima river (another 100 yards). It’s beautiful, and the dogs love it. We then went out to eat (by the way there’s a Starbucks less than 5 minutes from our place) and found a Sushi restaurant. Turns out that this restaurant just opened this week and it was kind of a neat connection being new here, both us and the restaurant. The owners were really cool. They encouraged us and told us what a great place Tri-Cities is. It’s funny because everyone we’ve talked to here keeps telling us that it’s great here. I’m used to people complaining about where they live, refreshing. So, when we got back to the apartment, one of the managers came over and did our inspection with us. We got to talking and it turns out he’s a believer and that he plans to start a Bible study at the apartments. He was able to tells us about the churches here and just generally encourage us. It was a lot cooler than I’m making sound. Later, we went to Wal-Mart to get some supplies. If you go to Wal-Mart, you know that it is usually a painful experience. This was the nicest Wal-Mart I’ve ever been to. It was big, clean, and the people were friendly and helpful (That’s something I’ve noticed here, everyone seems so nice). When we got back to the apartment, I got an e-mail from the guy I have an interview with on Monday. It basically said, welcome to the Tri-Cities, here’s my home number, if you need anything or if I can help in anyway, let me know. Who does this, it was awesome? Anyway, by the time we went to sleep on our new air mattress, we were encouraged and starting to love our new home.
So, last time I wrote, we were held over in Nebraska. Our car was finished Thursday around 11PM and we got back on the road by noon. We did however get to make our trip to Cabella’s that morning. But, because of our delay, we were off schedule and ended up driving until midnight to catch up. We went from Nebraska thru Wyoming (another wide state), Utah, and then we stayed the night in Twin Falls Idaho. At about 10:30PM as we were driving through Idaho, we had a quarter tank of gas. We passed a gas station, but we thought we’d wait until we drove a little further. It turns out that the next gas station was 100 miles away. When our gas light came on, we had no idea how much further we had to go. We ended up driving 40 more miles and coasting into the next gas station. Thank you Lord.
The next day we drove from Idaho, through Oregon, and into Washington. It was so surreal driving up to our new home that we’d never been to. I think reality began to finally hit me. I’ve had so many people say that were taking a big “step of faith”, but I never really thought it was a big deal, until yesterday. I guess if I did, I probably wouldn’t have come. It was just so weird coming to a place that looks entirely different (desert w/ rolling hills and not many trees), and realize that we don’t know one person here. We then got to our apartment, which was another bit of change, from house with big yard, but our apartment is very nice. So, to be perfectly honest, I felt a little sick, you know that nervous, anxious, sick in your stomach feeling. You start questioning, was this right?
Encouragement came quickly! First, we took the dogs for a walk (we have to walk them now). Only about 100 yards from out apartment our trails that lead down to the Yakima river (another 100 yards). It’s beautiful, and the dogs love it. We then went out to eat (by the way there’s a Starbucks less than 5 minutes from our place) and found a Sushi restaurant. Turns out that this restaurant just opened this week and it was kind of a neat connection being new here, both us and the restaurant. The owners were really cool. They encouraged us and told us what a great place Tri-Cities is. It’s funny because everyone we’ve talked to here keeps telling us that it’s great here. I’m used to people complaining about where they live, refreshing. So, when we got back to the apartment, one of the managers came over and did our inspection with us. We got to talking and it turns out he’s a believer and that he plans to start a Bible study at the apartments. He was able to tells us about the churches here and just generally encourage us. It was a lot cooler than I’m making sound. Later, we went to Wal-Mart to get some supplies. If you go to Wal-Mart, you know that it is usually a painful experience. This was the nicest Wal-Mart I’ve ever been to. It was big, clean, and the people were friendly and helpful (That’s something I’ve noticed here, everyone seems so nice). When we got back to the apartment, I got an e-mail from the guy I have an interview with on Monday. It basically said, welcome to the Tri-Cities, here’s my home number, if you need anything or if I can help in anyway, let me know. Who does this, it was awesome? Anyway, by the time we went to sleep on our new air mattress, we were encouraged and starting to love our new home.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Where Do I begin?
Today has been out of control! First our alarm didn't go off, so we started off an hour behind our schedule (Really it's Michele's schedule, I've never made a schedule before). About an into our trek, I found a Starbucks and I ordered a Red Eye (Coffee w/3 shots of espresso). This pretty much made my morning right. We then crossed the border into Iowa and then into Nebraska. Take note: Nebraska is very wide. We had allotted most of today to get through it, but we're still here (I'll get to that soon). Anyway, we stopped for gas and right next to the gas station was a state park called Mormon Island. I guess the Mormon's stayed the winter there on their way to Salt Lake. This place was awesome. It had a lake that the dogs got to swim in and Nate ran around and spent some energy. I also got a voicemail from a job I applied for wanting to set up an interview, but I couldn't call them back because I had no signal.
We continued on our journey and when we were about one hour to the border of Wyoming (We'd been driving abount 11 hours)I noticed one of the straps on the trailer was loose. I stopped to tighten it when I noticed a smell. I looked under the car and transmission fluid was pouring out. Now, I still had no signal and no way of getting help, so we continued to drive...slow. We came to a town about 10 miles down the road that has an awesome auto garage. They checked it out right away and told us it just over heated and in turn vented out some of the fluid. They said pulling the trailer up hill against the wind (I mean it's windy here, all the time) is like driving the car 110 miles an hour with a trailer. The recommended flushing the trany, which I thought was probably a good idea. The garage aranged a hotel for us in town. The town is called Sydney Nebraska, our hotel is owned by Cabella's (If you don't know what Cabella's is, it's a guys dream store) and directly next door is the original Cabella's and its corporate offices. So, now I know that this is totally from the Lord!
So, we decide to make the best of it and we go to dinner at a nice resturant next to the hotel. Nate ends up throwing a fit because it's way past bed time. We decided to leave early and postpone our trip to Cabella's until the morning. When we walked up to the hotel, Lucy came running to us. Now, keep in mind, the dogs are suppose to be in our room which is inside down the hall. We forgot that Lucy learned how to open doors with handles when we lived in Germany (That was over 4 years ago). She managed to pull the door open, slip out while leaving Cooper in the room and then go down the hall and get out the front door. And then after all that she came running around the corner when we were coming back. Crazy!
Anyway, that's about it. That's enough for us for one day.
Peace,
Harold
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
On The Road
We left last night, Monday May 8th after an unexpected delay. When I hooked up our trailer, I found out that our lights weren't working. We then had to make an emergency trip to Dan's house. It only took Dan a few minutes to solve the problem and we were off (Thanks again Dan). We then drove straight through the night so Nathan could sleep. In all we drove 17 hours straight. We went through Virginia, W. Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and we are now stopped in Colombia Mossouri (That looks wrong doesn't it?) for the day.
Michele found a great park and we all had a little picnic. We're now at our hotel which AAA rated a 3 out of 4 stars. Let me just say I'd hate to see 2 stars. Anyway, we're all laying down to catch up on some sleep. Tomorrow we should make it to Wyoming. Hopefully I'll get a signal there too. Thanks again for all of your prayers.
Peace,
Harold
Friday, May 05, 2006
3 More Days
This past week has been a blur. Last Saturday night a lot of our friends had a going away party for us. It was an awesome time of fellowship and worship. Thanks to all of you who were there and had a part in making it happen, it meant far more to us than words can express. We love you guys!
I shipped my Jeep to WA last week. Yesterday the moving people came and packed up our entire house and took it all away. Today we signed the deed to transfer the house to its new owners. In the next couple of days we're going to wrap up some loose ends and say our final goodbyes. It is so amazing how God has moved in every step of this endeavor. I can't think of any other situation that has come together so well in every little detail. He continues to confirm to us that this is His will. Because it is so evident to us that God is ordaining every step, we are very excited for what He has for us in WA. Our prayer is to simply walk the Christian walk and in turn affect the lives around us. Really that's what being a Christian is about, but a fresh start is exciting.
Anyway, we leave on Monday for our cross-country trek. It will be interesting driving with a 1 year old and two big dogs while pulling a trailer. I'm sure we'll have some stories. My hope is to post things as we drive, which depends on whether or not we can pick up a WiFi signal. I guess we'll see. Well, thank you for all of your prayers.
Peace
Harold
I shipped my Jeep to WA last week. Yesterday the moving people came and packed up our entire house and took it all away. Today we signed the deed to transfer the house to its new owners. In the next couple of days we're going to wrap up some loose ends and say our final goodbyes. It is so amazing how God has moved in every step of this endeavor. I can't think of any other situation that has come together so well in every little detail. He continues to confirm to us that this is His will. Because it is so evident to us that God is ordaining every step, we are very excited for what He has for us in WA. Our prayer is to simply walk the Christian walk and in turn affect the lives around us. Really that's what being a Christian is about, but a fresh start is exciting.
Anyway, we leave on Monday for our cross-country trek. It will be interesting driving with a 1 year old and two big dogs while pulling a trailer. I'm sure we'll have some stories. My hope is to post things as we drive, which depends on whether or not we can pick up a WiFi signal. I guess we'll see. Well, thank you for all of your prayers.
Peace
Harold
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